


Long Time Traveling Here

by wickedblackbird



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Angst, Drama, Martin is Carolyn and Douglas' son
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-06
Updated: 2013-03-06
Packaged: 2017-12-04 11:48:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/710462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedblackbird/pseuds/wickedblackbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their story was nothing like a fairy tale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Their story was nothing like a fairy tale.

Caroyln Knapp was twenty-five when she had a brief fling with twenty-year-old Douglas Richardson. It is not one of her more impressive or intelligent decisions, but he was a medical student and happened to be very, very charming. Both of them knew that nothing permanent would come of it. He was a young and reckless flirt, and she was determined to meet someone far better than a rakish student five years her junior. 

Besides that, they tended to argue constantly. It was a good form of stress relief for both of them. They would shout at each other, have some energetic sex, and then head back to their busy lives feeling mostly satisfied.

Then, the unthinkable happened. After a drunken seduction (and a blasé attitude towards an expired condom), Carolyn got pregnant.

The following nine months were some of the most dreadful months of her whole life. Neither of them were by any means ready to be parents, nor were they prepared to commit that much time to each other. They fretted and shouted and brooded, and eventually agreed that the best course of action would be to put the baby up for adoption. It would be raised by people who actually wanted it, who would love and care for it, and take joy in watching it grow. People who were ready to devote time to someone other than themselves. People rather unlike Douglas and Carolyn.

Finally, after a great deal of discomfort (and then awful, tearing pain), a little boy was born. Carolyn held him in her arms only once. He was small and red-faced, with tiny wisps of ginger hair. A small part of her thought he was beautiful. 

Douglas sat beside them with an uncharacteristically soft look on his face. He ran a gentle finger down the baby's soft cheek.

'Well,' he said quietly. 'I suppose the least we can do is give him a name.'

And so they did. They had a half-hearted argument, before deciding on Martin. Then he was whisked away by a nurse to his new family. The only information they had was the name Crieff. Even that seemed like too much.

Neither of them cried.

It was several years and multiple marriages before Douglas and Carolyn saw each other again. He had abandoned medical school for the skies, and she was (mostly) enjoying being a rich man's wife. 

They ran into one another on the street, and ended up going for drinks. They argued and talked, and silently toasted a shared memory. Then, went off their separate ways once more.

After that, they saw each other periodically through the years. Their meetings usually followed a pattern that they were loathe to break. Each of them had another child. Sometimes they shared stories or pictures, and ignored the lurking shade of the child they had not wanted. Some things were best not mentioned.

Eventually, both of their lives fell apart once more. When they saw each other next, Douglas was in need of a job, and Carolyn was in need of a pilot. It made sense.

Others came and went through the company, drifting in and out. Oddly, the two of them remained the only constants. It was another thing that they did not talk about.

Several years in, everything changed once more.

It started rather simply. Carolyn once again needed a second pilot, and was prepared for the usual horrid interview process. She did not have a great deal of money to offer, and there was little prestige to being employed by MJN Air. It was with a great deal of reluctance that she sent out adverts - the people who answered them were always the worst of a bad lot, and this time was proving no exception.

The young man who came into her office was too skinny and terribly awkward and inspired absolutely no confidence in a prospective employer. The logical part of her brain said that there was absolutely no way that he would be coming anywhere near her plane.

Then he held his hand out stiffly for a handshake and said: 'Hello. I'm Martin Crieff.'


	2. Chapter 2

There must have been some change in her expression, some small indication of her horror, because Martin blanched and began rambling about his qualifications. When she still could not find her voice, he began to beg. Looking at the young man in front of her (still the ginger hair and the baby blue eyes, but so thin, so small), Carolyn felt something cold and guilty settle into the pit of her stomach. And he really had no idea.

'Please,' Martin's voice broke into her thoughts. 'Flying is the only thing I've ever wanted. I'd do anything. I... I'll work for half of whatever you payed your last first officer.'

'Half?' That caught the attention of her more logical side, and she used it to shove the unpleasant emotions back down. So this young fool had the same name as a baby she had given up thirty years earlier. That did not mean anything. Half the pittance she had paid her previous pilot would save her even more money than she had hoped. Honestly, he had been her Captain, but she could not afford to pay another Captain's salary and had been thinking of moving Douglas into the position so she could hire at a cheaper rate. The desperation in Martin's eyes told her she could accomplish even more than that. 

Also, she would see Martin again.

'So tell me,' she said, swallowing down the building feeling of nausea in her gut, 'if you'd be willing to work for half to be my First Officer, what would you do to be my Captain?'

And just like that, she had a Captain for free. Martin had been disgustingly grateful as he left her office - shaking her hand too many times, and stuttering over his thanks. Carolyn eventually managed to send him on his way, and then collapsed back into her chair, feeling wrung out. 

MJN Air finally had its full crew - two pilots, a steward, and a CEO.

'A regular family business now,' she said sourly to her empty office. Then, for the first time in years, she started to cry.

**Author's Note:**

> I played with Carolyn's age a little to make this work - I made her a bit younger than I think she's meant to be in the programme.


End file.
